LOS ANGELES _ There was a time last season, as difficult as it is to believe now, that Wisconsin touchdown machine Montee Ball was contemplating a position switch to outside linebacker.

Ball had slipped to third on the depth chart behind John Clay and James White, and spent the entire 31-18 victory over Ohio State in 2010 watching from the sideline.

“I never talked to the coaches about it,” Ball said Wednesday in a news conference at a downtown Los Angeles hotel. “But I believe I could have played outside linebacker.”

Maybe, but injuries to White and Clay pushed Ball back onto the field, he remained a running back, and Wisconsin fans are ecstatic he did.

The 5-foot-11, 210-pound junior probably is the key to the offense for No. 9 Wisconsin (11-2), which meets No. 6 Oregon in the Rose Bowl at 2 p.m. Monday (ESPN).

“We are going to have to stop the run and get them into uncomfortable downs, because if they have second-and-short all day, then they are going to feel real comfortable,” UO cornerback Anthony Gildon said. “They are going to be able to do everything that want to do.”

Sanders averaged a touchdown every 10.10 times he touched the ball. Ball has scored once every 7.76 touches.

“I really take it to heart, that once I get in the red zone I want to finish this out with a touchdown and not a field goal,” Ball said. “That’s what we really have to focus on in this game. We’ve been doing it all season. But we really have to emphasize it in this game, because you can’t come away with three points all the time against Oregon. That will burn you.”

It figures to be a high-scoring game, and an interesting match-up. Oregon’s LaMichael James led the FBS level in average yards rushing per game. Ball led the country in total yards rushing.

And who knows how much yardage Ball might have gained had he been the Badgers’ featured back all season.

He split time with White early on. For instance, when the Badgers hammered Oregon State 35-0 in September, Ball carried 19 times and White 17.

Ball didn’t own the job for keeps until the fifth week of the season, when he rushed 30 times for 151 yards in a 48-17 poleaxing of Nebraska. Nothing ever was quite the same after that.

Ball ran 142 yards against Indiana, 223 against Purdue, 166 against Minnesota, 224 against Illinois, and so it went until he was being flown back to New York for the Heisman Trophy Awards show.

Baylor’s Robert Griffin III got the Heisman, but Ball’s teammates know how valuable their running back is.

“I don’t think Montee gets enough credit,” Wisconsin receiver Nick Toon said. “We have a great offensive line. But Montee has made a lot of plays on his own. The offensive line has helped him, but there have been a lot of times when he made someone miss in the backfield or at the first level, and made something happen on his own.”

Ball is a nice combination of power and elusiveness. He dropped 25 pounds between last season and this one. The goal was to add a top end gear, and it’s worked.

“He’s been able to get past the guys who might have caught him the year before,” Wisconsin center Peter Konz said. “Just that extra half-step, or whatever it was, is able to push him into the end zone. That is exactly what he told me in the summer, when I asked him why he was losing weight. Because he already was extremely successful toward the end of the season with the weight he had last year.”

Ball said he will announce after the Rose Bowl, but most observers believe he is leaning toward coming out.

To think, barely 14 months ago he was contemplating a position switch.

“I think Montee’s story is an awesome story,” Wisconsin offensive coordinator Paul Chryst said. “It was a lot harder on Montee than he led us to believe, because Montee was nothing but a great team guy. He was ready. In the Iowa game he jumped in, and his first play he made a big play.”

Ball was ready because he didn’t sulk, kept pushing himself to improve, and took advantage of the next opportunity.

“It’s guys like that,” Chryst said, “who have a special place in your heart.”